Blood, Gold an Love: Dany's Betrayals

According to the Undying, Daenerys will know three betrayals: for blood, for gold and for love. I guess everybody agrees that the first one refers to Mirri, but what about the other two? I strongly believe that the second one refers to Doreah, but I don't understand why most people don't talk about this theory. The third treason is also very polemical and there are lots of theories about it............let's discuss these topics:

The Undying prophecies

In the book, the scene that shows Dany in the House of the Undying is much more different from the one showed in the series:

"Following the suggestion of Pyat Pree, Daenerys Targaryen seeks the Undying Ones' counsel at their residence, the House of the Undying. The Undying Ones show her a number of visions of past and future events.

(....)

Upon reaching the chamber of the Undying, Daenerys is spoken to in a barely perceptible whisper. The Undying call her 'mother of dragons' and 'child of three' and tell her some prophecies, saying 'three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love...' " (Click HERE to read the entire post)

There are lots of theories concerning these prophecies, but in this post we are going to discuss only about the prophecy concerning the treasons for blood, gold and love.

Treason for blood

I guess everyone agrees that this treason refers to Mirri Maz Duur, the witch whose city was destroyed by the dothraki and, to revenge her people, she betrays Dany by saying that she would cure her dying husband in exchange for another life. She deceives Dany by suggesting that the life of Drogo's horse was going to be the price, but after the ritual Dany finds out that she payed with her son's life, who was still in her womb.

As if that wasn't horrible enough, Dany also finds out that her husband wasn't brought to life the way she expected: he was breathing, but did nothing but stay lying staring at nothing...........

Then Dany asks Mirri: 

When will he (Drogo) be as he was? —Dany asked

"When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," said Mirri Maz Duur, "When the seas go dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before."

Anyway, it's pretty clear that this is the treason for blood. Now, let's talk about the other betrayals, that are much more polemical........  

Treason for gold

Lots of people believe that this treason refers to Jorah, who used to send Varys information about the Targaryen.........however, it seems that he didn't do it for gold, but for being able to return home, to Westeros. 

So, to whom this treason refers to? Lots of people believe that it hasn't happened yet, but I strongly believe that it refers to Doreah, who was a former bedslave and Dany's handmaiden........

She and Dany were very friends, Doreah even taught her how to please Khal Drogo in bed and how to use her sexuality to gain her husband's respect.

However, Doreah betrayed Dany in season 2, when they went to the city of Qarth and met Xaro Xhoan Daxos, the only one of the Thirteen (the rulers of the city) who let Dany and her people enter the city........he didn't do it because he was a good person, though. Xaro had a deal with Pyat Pree, the warlock from the House of the Undying.............

Xaro let Dany enter the city and, later, he stole her dragons (which he did with the help of Doreah) and gave them to the Undying Ones, so that they could use to enhance their magic (and they also wanted to imprison Dany in the House of the Undying, since the dragons became even more powerful in  her presence)..........in exchange, Pyter killed the other members of the Thirteen and Xaro declared himself King of Qarth. 

Daenerys later escapes from the House of the Undying after retrieving her dragons and with her men invades Xaro's house where she finds Xaro in bed with Doreah, revealing that she had in fact betrayed Daenerys and gave her dragons to Xaro and Pyat Pree. Xaro and Doreah plead for their lives, with Xaro promising to get her ships to invade Westeros. Using the circular key pendant, the treasure vault is opened and found to be empty, his enormous wealth a lie to cling on to his power and seat. Then, Xaro and Doreah are locked inside the merchant prince's vault to die. (Click HERE to read the entire text)

We can presume that Doreah betrayed Dany for gold, since she was clearly enchanted by Xaro, who was said to be the richest man of Qarth (which turned out be a lie). 

So, when Xaro proposed Doreah to be his ally, she couldn't help herself.........after all, she would be with the (so called) richest man of Qarth and she was convinced that Dany wouldn't leave the city alive anyway........

As everything indicates, this was the treason for gold, and it's so clear for me.......I don't understand why most people haven't thought about it.

 Treason for love

This is definitely the most confusing one, since it probably hasn't happened yet........when we think about it, Jorah's betrayal would fit in it, since he betrayed Daenerys for his love to his House and his home.......however, he didn't "complete" his betrayal, he didn't let Dany be poisoned and he has been so loyal to her every since........so, I don't think he can be considered a true traitor.........

Who is then? Let's talk about some theories:

Varys

Since Varys is known for betraying his former kings, I don't think it would be different with Daenerys. It's totally possible that he would betray her if he considered it was the best for the people.

It can actually be regarded as a betrayal for love, since Varys would be doing it for his love for the people.......

The only problem with this theory is that it doesn't seem to have time for Dany to reign for a while before she goes crazy like her father and end up being betrayed by Varys.........I really wanted that to happen (to see her getting crazy and so on.........it would be very cool), but unfortunately I don't think there's going to have time for that..........

There is also a crazy theory about Aegon Targaryen (son of Elia and Rhaegar) being still alive because Varys has protected him through all these years and educated him to be the best King of Westeros........and then, when the time comes (maybe after Cersei is defeated), he will claim that the boy is the true heir to the throne, not Dany........

I don't think it's likely to happen, especially because the series (and probably the books) wouldn't name Jon with the same name of a character that's still alive. Besides, Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia, which means that Aegon (his son with Elia) is a bastard and, consequently, doesn't have the right to the throne........so, what's the point of creating such a complicated plot (that would demand a lot of time to be explained) if there won't be any conflicts concerning the heritage anyway? 

Another theory that makes much more sense is that, after the wars end and Cersei is defeated, Varys might want Jon to be king for believing that he will be a better ruler than Daenerys..........so, Varys might want to put Jon against Dany and convince him to claim his right to the throne.........

Yeah, I know that Jon and Dany could get married and rule Westeros together, but the truth is that only one can sit in the Iron Throne and have the final word for everything.

Missandei

I have already made other posts concerning whether there is a traitor in Dany's team.........after all, it was so strange that Euron Greyjoy could easily find his nephews' fleet and, later, could arrive in Casterly Rock at the perfect timing to destroy the ships of the Unsullied.........

I mean, it's hard to believe that Euron and his people would stay unlimited days in the sea, just waiting for the enemy to appear someday.........they could wait for weeks or even months, which would be very exhausting and risky, since they could be discovered (after all, it's not easy to hide an entire fleet - especially a big one such as Euron's - in open sea).

So, either it's a bad written script with absurd conveniences, or someone in Dany's team betrayed her, sending the enemy informations about their plan. That's why Euron knew when and where his nephews' fleet could be found and, in the case of the Unsullied, even though Cersei already presumed the attack to Casterly Rock, the traitor provided them with the information concerning the day that the Unsullied would probably arrive there..........that's why Euron could arrive at the perfect timing.........

Imagine if Euron's fleet had arrived there a few days later? The Unsullied would already be on their way back to Dragonstone and, so, their ships wouldn't be burned...........summing up, Cersei and Jaime's trap wouldn't be so successful if it wasn't for the perfect timing.......

So, who could be the traitor in Dany's team? I think that Missandei is a huge suspect for several reasons:

- she participated in the reunions concerning the plans of conquering Westeros;

- it's possible that, after having sex with Grey Worm, she asked him about details concerning the attack of Casterly Rock (information such as the day they would probably arrive there);

- when Tyrion introduced Missandei to Sor Davos and Jon, he referred to her as being the queen's most trusted adviser, which is another motive to suspect her, especially because Dany has been betrayed by trustful and close friends before (like Doreah);

 - when Sor Davos couldn't place her accent and asked where she was from, she acted very weirdly and tried not to say much about herself.

Why she acted this way when Sor Davos asked her about it? Maybe she has already lived somewhere that she couldn't reveal? Maybe somewhere that could raise the suspicion of a possible connection with an enemy? Maybe with Euron Greyjoy?

Since we don't know much about Euron and Missandei's lives, it's totally possible that they have already met each other before, maybe even had a romance.........and then Euron secretly exchanged messages with her after she arrived in Westeros, and somehow convinced her to help him, maybe with romantic promises that they would end up together......and then Missandei couldn't help herself and betrayed Dany.

 

 

Tyrion Lannister

During his talk with Cersei in the final episode of the season, Tyrion revealed that he never wanted to destroy his House, that's why he convinced Dany not to invade King's Landing.........so, might it indicate that he is going to betray Dany for his love to his House? Or maybe he has already betrayed her? Maybe he has failed so many times as Hand of the King on purpose? And why he looked so worried when he saw Jon entering in Dany's room?

There are some interesting theories concerning this matter: is his worried look in the boat somehow related with his chat with Cersei? After all, what did he say to his sister in order to "convince" her to help them to fight against the White Walkers? Maybe he promised her that he would try to destroy Jon and Dany's alliance? This would justify why Tyrion seemed worried in the boat scene: he realized that it wouldn't be easy to separate them two.

There is another theory that says that Tyrion promised Cersei that her son will be the successor of the Iron Throne after Dany dies. He probably told Cersei about Dany's infertility and that he would find a way to make her son the next ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.........that's why he looked so worried in the boat, after all, if Dany turned out to be fertile and ended up having a baby with Jon, Tyrion wouldn't be able to accomplish his promise.

And then you ask me: but Cersei won't help them to fight against the White Walkers, so why would Tyrion bother to keep his word if his sister didn't keep hers? Yeah, that's still very confusing, but I have thought about some possibilities:

   

 - the fact that Cersei didn't keep her word is somehow part of their deal;

  

- Cersei didn't believe that Tyrion would keep his word, so she decided to break the deal first..........and, in this case, Tyrion would be released from whatever promise he may had made.

Of course there's always the possibility that Tyrion didn't betray Dany and never will. Maybe he do want her to be queen, but without destroying his House. So, it's possible that he "convinced" Cersei to help them in the Great War by promising her that he would find a way to save her and her baby if Daenerys end up being queen. 

However, Cersei didn't believe her brother and didn't keep his word. She even says to Jaime that "You expect me to trust the man who murdered our father?". That's why she thought that the best to do was to not keep her word and only let "the monsters kill each other".

But then what Tyrion's worried look in the boat means? Jealousy? Or was he simply worried that two important leaders being romantically involved might create problems in the near future? In an interview, the director Jeremy Podeswa gives us a hint of what was going on:

"During INSIDER's interview with the episode's director, Jeremy Podeswa, he expanded on Tyrion's mindset in this scene. 

'I think it's a combination of things,' Podeswa told INSIDER.  'Jealousy is too simple, in a way. I think what's really going on here for me is that Tyrion is a strategist. He's somebody who thinks to the future and what the consequences of things are. For him, the union of Dany and Jon is a bit of a monkey wrench in terms of the plan for how they're going to move forward in a united front against the army of the dead.

(....) Now that there's a special bond between these two, nobody really knows how that's going to play out or what kind of decisions they'll make based on the fact that they're now connected to each other in a much more intimate way.'

 

Looking back at season seven, you can see how Tyrion was often chastised by Daenerys for his failed plans, especially after they lost Dorne and Highgarden as allies. She began turning to Jon Snow for advice more and more frequently.

'So for Tyrion this creates a potential problem' Podeswa said. 'Whatever sway he might have had over Dany might not be there anymore, cause Jon may become more important to her than him. The choices she will make may be influenced by this event. So for him the concern going forward is just how is this all going to play out, and what it might foreshadow.' " (Click HERE to read the complete post)

So, unless the director is trying to deceive us, it's highly unlikely that Tyrion betrayed Dany.

Jon Snow 

According to the legend of the Azor Ahai:

"Darkness lay over the world and a hero, Azor Ahai, was chosen to fight against it. To fight the darkness, Azor Ahai needed to forge a hero's sword. He labored for thirty days and thirty nights until it was done. However, when he went to temper it in water, the sword broke. He was not one to give up easily, so he started over. The second time he took fifty days and fifty nights to make the sword, even better than the first. To temper it this time, he captured a lion and drove the sword into its heart, but once more the steel shattered. The third time, with a heavy heart, for he knew beforehand what he must do to finish the blade, he worked for a hundred days and nights until it was finished. This time, he called for his wife, Nissa Nissa, and asked her to bare her breast. He drove his sword into her breast, her soul combining with the steel of the sword, creating Lightbringer."

So, if Jon turns out to be the Azor Ahai, he might have to kill Daenerys, his beloved, in order to create Lightbringer, the flaming sword that he will use to defeat evil. 

This theory can also be supported by one of the prophecies of the Undying: "three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love".

The "light for love" line might refer to the fact that Daenerys is going to be sacrificed by her lover in order to create the sword that will be used to fight the darkness and, consequently, bring light to the world again.  

However, there are some problems with this theory:

- I don't think it can be considered a betrayal, it's more like a necessary sacrifice that Dany might even agree with (in the legend, it looks like Nissa Nissa agrees to do it);

- the last episodes of season 7 were suggesting that Dany will have a baby with Jon and, if it turns out to be right, she will remain alive at least for the next nine months, but the Army of the Dead is already approaching and there's no time to wait so long to create Lightbringer;

- the Azor Ahai legend might be much more metaphorical than we think.

That's why I don't believe this theory so much. I don't think this whole sacrifice thing is literal. Besides, as far as I can remember, the series hasn't brought up the word "Azor Ahai" yet, only the "prince who was promised" has been mentioned..........why is that? Maybe it's because the show doesn't want to worry about accomplishing the "Azor Ahai requisites"? 

Yeah, it looks like the producers don't want to worry about a legend so complicated and full of details..........after all, there won't be time for that.  

That's it guys, I do hope you liked it. And I want to know from you: do you agree that the treason for gold refers to Doreah? And what are your theories about the treason for love? Let your opinion in the comments below!

Betrayed Kisses,

Tati.